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Talk:BreakTheInternet/@comment-24435238-20170210024553
Iris and Sharee, while being huge components to Switched at Birth and contributing the important perspective of "black student at a white environment" and the unsafeness they feel, aren't main characters, so they won't have this racism/cultural appropriation storyline told from their POV, especially with only 8 episodes of the series left. Iris made the important note of the school trying to deal with this racism scandal and what to do about Mingo without including any actual black voices and how destructive that is to a black student's safety. So thank God this discussion is happening on tv, and I hope moving forward this storyline continues on that direction rather than this storyline continuing to be spearheaded by that sad ass Lil Wayne costume scandal (as I said before, it is weak and falls under that grey area and doesn't reflect college life realistically when something more effective like blackface actually DOES happen). But now I want to address Daphne. For non-watchers, she's a white girl who grew up with a Puerto Rican mother, a Puerto Rican grandmother, and the projects where all of her neighbours and friends were Latinx. She grew up as a Latina (her last name is Vasquez btw) because, as the show's title states, she was switched at birth, so she learned she wasn't biologically Latina when she was 16. However, she still identifies as such, and I understand that. I can give that a pass because it's the culture she grew up with. I'm not Latino so I can't say whether or not I can truly give it to her, but holistically, if she grew up black for example, I can't fault her for sticking with it (unlike in situations like Rachel Dolezal where white people who KNOW they aren't black pretend they are). But can the writers be real? Can they have Regina (her mom) be real with her this season? Daphne has white privilege. Obviously. She's a white woman and is seen as such, so I need Regina to give her that fucking wake up call. I need Regina to have an actual conversation with Daphne about the fact that she will NEVER experience racism in her entire life. The only instance where she will is if she gives in a resume that has Vasquez instead of Kennish on it, then it will be disregarded more often. Outside of that, she will NEVER experience or understand racism the way that her own mother does and probably has many times. I need Regina to be real with Daphne because that parallel between herself and her own mother and the fact that they are both viewed differently solely on the colour of their skin needs to resonate with Daphne. She needs to understand her white privilege and do what she can, with all of the power and privilege she has as a white woman, to stand up for Iris and all of the black students that were offended by Mingo's costume rather than tell them they're being irrational using the "free speech" card. I need Daphne to understand that while she can identify as a Puerto Rican, she is white. And she needs to understand race relations quick. And the more I think about it, the more it makes sense that Daphne is being ignorant to racism because not only has she never experienced it, she's never experienced it while identifying as a POC. Homegirl is so fucking clueless and I need her to wake the fuck up.